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Facebook Timeline Do’s and Don’ts

May 4, 2012 in Media, Ministry, Online Publishing, Social Media with 0 Comments

In my post on Facebook Timeline Cheat Sheet, I gave you a basic overview of the dimensions to create cover and profile images on Facebook. I also gave you some examples of ministries doing an outstanding job with their images.

For this post, I want to talk about the Do’s and Don’ts of Facebook Timeline. I must admit, when Timeline first hit the scenes I thought the cover image would provide huge advertising and promotional opportunity. Unfortunately, both of these are banned on Facebook. Here are some techniques you want to either consider implementing or standing clear away from adopting.

1) No Call to Action

This means, no contact information, no arrows point to the Like Button, no website or buy now verbiage.

HyperArts Blog: http://goo.gl/YI92o

2) Get Creative with Your Cover Image

So, you can’t advertise or provide contact information in your header but you certainly can get very creative with the images you use. Each fan page gets a photo album named “Cover Image.” Change your cover image regularly and use the description to add your call to action. It doesn’t have to always tie to branding. See the image below from Compassion International.

3) Add Milestones

One of the cool new features of Timeline is Milestones. You can add a milestone for each major event that occurred in the history of your organization.

This is what I created for The 700 Club. This gives you an opportunity to tell the story of your organization. Each update appears in your newsfeed so be careful. Uploading all the milestones at once could crowd your audiences newsfeed and you run the risk of them hiding your page updates.

4) Make good use of apps and thumbnails

Here you see that Entertainment Tonight has sweepstakes apps, online mobile app, live chat, videos, and even their Twitter and Pinterest app. The only app here that is unnecessary to me is the like app. You already know how many people like the page because it is listed right under the name. This is great real estate for another app.

5) Use the Pin & Highlight Feature

Pinning a post allows you to keep a post you would like to see on top for 7 days. After 7 days, the post returns to its place within the timeline. Highlighting allows you to spread a post out across the timeline so it is more noticeable than the other posts on the page. I typically use this feature right before a big even or if I want to bring more attention to a particular post.

Other tips include:

Responding to wall posts and comments. Have an engagement strategy.
@ tag those you are responding to on a particular post.
Post photos and pictures. Even if they are not branded images, they generate interactions.
Don’t overuse third party apps (we will discuss this in more detail in a later post)

Most importantly…have fun!

Becoming a Publishing Ministry

April 25, 2012 in Media, Ministry, Online Publishing, Social Media with 0 Comments

Whenever I consult with a ministry about content, the first question I always get is, “What if I don’t have any?” This is a huge misconception among churches and ministries. Many believe they don’t have content because they don’t have a blog. This thought could not be further from the truth. Ministries have tons on relevant content. If they didn’t have it, no one would be interested in them.

Each Sunday, thousands of people enter into a house of worship for various reasons. Some are coming for the purposes of praise and worship, others are expecting to hear the Word of God that will be delivered through their pastor, while many others are looking forward to the fellowship with other believers. How do the pastor and church leaders ensure their members are growing in their faith? How can they stay connected?

A content strategy…

I use to work for EQUIP International Ministries in Atlanta, GA. EQUIP was founded by leadership expert and guru John Maxwell. John just started an email series called “A Minute with John Maxwell.”

Each day, people who are subscribed to John’s emails receive an email that addresses a particular topic. John even goes as far allow his audience to submit topics they would like for him to address in one minute. This is an effective strategy because it allows the audience to get involved in creating relevant content. John’s team does not have to come up with content because they are giving the audience exactly what they are requesting. An excellent strategy!

Likewise, churches and ministries have this opportunity to creative relevant and engaging content to keep their audience returning. You don’t have to spend a lot of money of hiring someone to create content because it is in-house and you don’t have to waste money on advertising. You get more traffic from content than you will ever get from an ad placement. Ads will expire but content lives on forever.

Facebook Timeline Cheat Sheet

April 23, 2012 in Media, Ministry, Social Media with 0 Comments

Here you will find quick tips in helping your create your images and layout of your Facebook Timeline page:

Cover Photo: 851 x 315 pixels

Minimum size: 399 pixels across
Cannot contain: Website, address, phone number, “Click Like” or any call to action

Profile Photo: 180 x 180 pixels

Profile photo sizes down to: 30 x 30 pixels in the News Feed

The following are images of some really cool pages:

Marketing through the Ages

April 21, 2012 in Kingdom, Media, Social Media with 0 Comments

One thing is certain, no matter how much fun you think marketing and communication professionals have doing their jobs, it takes a lot of work. Success is hard work, but you already know that! Now, in the age of social media, you have so many options. How does it all work? Where do I focus?

As ministries, we try to figure out this space and which tools will allow us to reach people effectively. Should my page be on Facebook? If so, what messages do I communicate? Why Twitter? And, what is a tweet? How can I teach my people to customize messages for maximum impact? These are excellent questions and it is very important for ministries to have the right strategy.

I am amazed as I look back throughout the years how marketing has changed. What surprises me even more is how many marketers are still relying on practices of the 90s. Let’s take a look back on marketing throughout the years:

Marketing in the 1990s

Magazine ads
Newspapers
Direct mail
Press Relations
Yellow Pages

Marketing in the 2000s

Direct press releases
Web banner ads
Pay-per-click
Internet radio
YouTube
White papers

Now

Social networks (social search over search engines)
Internet Music
Web-based videos
Death to the press releases, yellow pages, magazines, and print newspapers

Who would have thought that in 2012 there would be social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ where friends are sharing information about themselves and sharing/retweeting their others’ thoughts. Did you ever think “liking” something could be so powerful? I love how one of the Facebook pages I currently manage explodes with comments, likes and shares each time I post a Scripture. When there is a call for community prayer, the audience shares their desires and struggles and the whole community rallies together to pray for each other. It is powerful to see this in action.

Ministries have a great opportunity here to serve and connect with people. Content drives social media and the organization that creates content that best serves their audience will see indescribable growth. This does not come without hard work from you and your team creating great content that inspires and impacts.

KINGDOM THOUGHT: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction. (2 Timothy 4:2)

Ministry or Annoyance? Careful How You Answer…

March 11, 2012 in Kingdom, Media, Ministry, Social Media with 0 Comments

Fan pages are getting yet another update. I’ve spoken with many peers in the industry who are annoyed with these changes but Facebook’s constant updating never really affected me much. What can you do, they’re Facebook. You adjust accordingly.

Anyway, one thing Facebook has allowed many brands to do in the past is “hide” behind a Facebook page. What I mean by this is, users can only contact a brand or organization on the Facebook wall. The brand can respond or not; however, not responding to serious inquiries makes the brand look aloft or out of touch.

On March 30, 2012, FB will be allowing users to content the page through direct message.

See the red 21 above? The page just converted this week and it already has 21 messages. Is your ministry ready for this? I understand many pastors like to have their space but I want to encourage you of this huge ministry opportunity. This ministry above shut off the capability for users to post messages because there was no plan in place to handle them; however, it will not be like this for long. There is already a plan in place for others the handle private messages.

So, for you pastors who like to set boundaries…great! We all need them. But, consider this feature as another outlet to provide ministry. You don’t have to do it all but you can assign a staff member to answer the inquires and questions that come into your inbox.

Until a proper plan is set, turn this option off. Having it up and not responding to inquiries could be just as much of a public relations disaster as not commenting to inquiries on your wall.

Kingdom Thought: Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrew 4:13).